Darbhanga: A bridge over the Kamala river in Bihar's Darbhanga collapsed on Monday. According to sources, a truck carrying sand was passing over the bridge when the structure came crashing down. The truck collapsed and was caught in the debris and left hanging on the edge of the wrecked bridge. The truck driver had a miraculous escape and has been reported safe.
On receiving the information, many officials including BDO, and CO reached the spot and started an investigation into the accident. Efforts are being made to remove the truck with the help of the villagers. According to the locals, the traffic of many nearby panchayats used to pass through this bridge. Due to the incident, the locals have expressed their anger against the contractor.
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Locals alleged that action should be taken against the contractor as even after the order of the government, the repair work of the bridge was not done properly. Notably, the repair work of the bridge was to be done and a bridge was to be constructed parallel to the collapsed one. In this regard, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar laid the foundation stone in 2021. But neither was the new bridge constructed, nor the repair work carried out.
Pictures from the spot of the bridge bear an eerie resemblance to the one that crashed in Gujarat's Morbi killing 135 people. Earlier, a portion of a bridge collapsed on December 18, 2022, before its inauguration in Bihar's Begusarai district. The bridge was constructed under the Chief Minister NABARD scheme but could not be inaugurated due to a lack of approach road.